Eagles rookie quarterback Nick Foles loses the ball while being sacked by Washington's Jarvis Jenkins, left, and Josh Wilson, right, during the first half of a 31-6 loss to the Redskins Sunday. Foles had a rough day while making his first career start in place of Michael Vick. (Associated Press)

LANDOVER, Md. -- For as long as he has played football, Nick Foles has thought about his first start as an NFL quarterback.

And what was his vision?

"Not that," Foles said Sunday after the Eagles' 31-6 loss to the Washington Redskins. "Obviously, not that."

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Starting in place of the concussed Michael Vick, Foles was intercepted on his first two possessions, fumbled three times, was sacked four times, didn't lead a touchdown drive and threw 25 incomplete passes.

The Birds' third-round choice in the last draft did pass for 204 yards and conduct a couple of drives for field goals. But on a day when the Eagles needed to be led out of the darkness of a losing streak, their new quarterback did not exactly brandish the lantern.

"Today was a rough game," he said. "I didn't play well at all. I'm a guy that takes this stuff and will learn from it. It's tough, but I'll study the film and see, fundamentally, what I can do better. There's a lot of learning there. And I try to take the positive out of anything."

Foles had made his NFL regular-season debut a week earlier when Vick was injured in the first half of a loss to the visiting Dallas Cowboys. Yet the Redskins jumped him early Sunday, DeAngelo Hall picking off his short toss to Brent Celek on the third play of the game. Two plays later, the Eagles were behind, 7-0, and they would not recover.

"He made a few young-guy mistakes that he'll learn from," Andy Reid said. "He is being given an opportunity to correct those."

Among those mistakes was an interception on the second possession on an attempted pass to DeSean Jackson -- foreshadowing a day of difficulty locating the Eagles' marquee receivers. Targeted three times, Jeremy Maclin had no catches. Thrown to nine times, Jackson had two catches for a total of five yards.

"I wasn't able to get it to them," Foles said. "Those guys are playmakers. We've got to be able to get them the ball. They do a lot of great things for us. They were running hard all day, so as a quarterback, I have to figure out how to get them the ball when I get my chances."

Foles' chance to start in the big leagues came ahead of schedule. But he'd used a strong preseason to bump veteran Trent Edwards down to third in the rotation. Though Vick would start if healthy, Reid gave no indication Sunday that he would make another change.

So Foles likely will try again when the Birds entertain Carolina next Monday night. By then, he will have a new vision of success.

"With anything like this, I have always had a 24-hour rule," he said. "I let the game decompress, sort of think about everything, and definitely get back to work. Watching film is tough, but you treat a win and a loss the same way and you get better. You have to take notes. And that's just how it is. That's life.

"I've still got my family, my friends and my support. So I'm OK. I'm going to continue to move forward. I have my teammates right there and we're going to continue to get better. We're going to continue to work through this."